A Different Dursley Family
by Lucillia
Summary: Getting expelled from Smeltings was probably the best thing to happen to Vernon. Finishing her Nursing degree was probably the best thing to happen to Petunia. In this universe, Harry Potter is left on the doorstep of a very different Dursley family.
1. Intro to a New Universe

It is said that different universes branch off from the potential ways each situation can go. For instance in one universe Vernon Dursley successfully frames a schoolmate for an illegal and highly dangerous prank involving a bronze statue of the Smeltings mascot and is allowed to remain at the school and continue his association with the "Proper sort" and adopts his father's views on what is and isn't acceptable. In another universe, a fifteen year old Vernon Dursley is accidentally killed after he underestimates the weight of the statue he is trying to steal to use in a rather hilarious prank, and Petunia ends up settling down with a Squib who was just as jealous of his magical relations as she was hers. In another, Vernon underestimates the weight of the statue and is merely paralyzed from the waist down. In the universe in which this story takes place, Vernon doesn't underestimate the weight of the statue, but he is caught before he could frame another student, expelled, and sent to a local comprehensive where he finds a whole 'nother world outside of that of his narrow minded, disciplinarian father.

A great deal has been said on the subject of Soulmates, much of it overly romantic, completely ridiculous and outright false. In every universe, true Soulmates will meet at least once. Whether or not the relationship will continue beyond this initial meeting is up to chance, though the Soulmates in question will find themselves drawn to each-other. Those of you who read the accounts of the universe chronicled by J. K. Rowling would probably be disgusted and horrified to discover that Vernon and Petunia Dursley were true Soulmates.

Our story begins here...

Venron Dursley - a large muscular twenty-two year old man who would be classified as a hooligan by those who generally describe themselves as "Decent hard-working folk" the instant they first saw him - had only set foot into the pub he was seated in because he'd heard from a friend who he knew was a good judge of such things that the music wasn't half bad. Usually, he wouldn't be caught dead in a pub this close to the local university. It wasn't the fact that a great deal of the students were the bunch of snobs that looked down on the sort of people that did actual labor that bothered him, so much as the time he had run into a couple of his former friends from Smeltings and saw what they had become. That encounter had been exceedingly unpleasant to say the least. He did manage get a few good blows in before the cops arrived though.

In the five years since his bastard of a father had died - he couldn't believe that there was a time he'd practically worshiped the ground that man walked on - he had pretty much been forced to make his own way in the world, as he had been cut out of the will after a rather spectacular fight that had resulted in him being kicked out of the house as well. Fortunately, he had been able to turn his passion for anything with a motor, and his ability to take just about anything apart and put it back together again in working order into gainful employment. In fact, he had just gotten off his shift at the garage at which he worked when he had dropped by the pub to check out the band his friend had recommended. Taking a swig from the pint that had just been delivered, he listened to the music. The group onstage were a bunch of classically trained musicians from the university, and they weren't half bad for a punk band.

It was while he was on his third pint that She walked up to him with a determined look in her eyes. She was rather plain looking, somewhat horse-faced, and her clothes didn't quite suit her. But, who was he to judge, he wasn't the handsomest of men either. Over the course of several drinks, he learned that the woman whose name was Petunia had sharp wit and a wicked sense of humor under her usually stern exterior. She also had a certain...dissatisfaction with her lot in life. Even though she was the elder, her family only had eyes for her charming, pretty, intelligent, and above all, perfect sister Lily who had married right out of high school. All of Petunia's accomplishments had been taken for granted or ignored by her parents. Her family had sent her off to the university to find a husband rather than so she could pursue the career she desired.

By the end of the evening, Vernon had Petunia's phone number and plans for a date.

&!&!&

Petunia had only gone into the pub near the university because one of her few friends - a Sociology major named Yvonne- had dragged her. She usually made it a point to stay away from such places. If her mother knew that she had set foot inside a pub, she would give her that hurt and disappointed look she always gave her when she had yet again fallen short of Perfect Lily's standards. Perfect Lily was a lady, and would never even dream of doing such a crass thing as set foot inside an establishment that served alcohol.

She wasn't entirely sure what it was about him that caught her eye, but the beefy dark haired man wearing a leather jacket, torn and stained jeans, and heavy workboots had caught her attention. He was everything her parents didn't want for their daughter. Her parents - who had been in the middle class only by the skin of their teeth during her childhood, and poor during theirs - had encouraged their daughters to marry up. The long haired man at the bar that she couldn't stop staring at sure as hell wasn't "Up".

It had taken two insanely sweet drinks for her to gather her courage and go over and talk to him, but talk to him she did, and what a pleasant conversation that had been. She hadn't laughed that hard in years. The man's - Vernon - impressions of famous actors had been absolutely hilarious.

By the end of the evening, she knew that she was in love.

&!&!&

It was on October 12 1979 that Vernon Dursley's world changed forever. It was on that day that he discovered that due to a bit of carelessness on his and Petunia's part, his life wouldn't just be about him anymore. Petunia had refused to consider an abortion, and he wasn't about to let any child of his grow up without a father. He would have to work extra hours to provide for his new family until Petunia finished her degree and was able to work herself (he had refused to let her drop out since she was less than a year away from finishing), but he was sure that everything would somehow manage to work out in the end.

It was during the wedding that took place a couple days before Christmas that Vernon learned how vicious Petunia could be to those she held grudges against. Inviting someone to her wedding out of spite had - in a way - been a very Petunia thing to do. He almost felt sorry for that Snape fellow who had spent the evening staring longingly at Lily. It was at that wedding that he had learned about the "Magical world" that Petunia had been forced to keep secret from him, and how it could be as bad as or worse than the "Real world".

On June 23 1980, Ryan Dursley was born just weeks after Petunia had finished her nursing degree. Vernon had put his foot down when Petunia wanted to name the child Dudley, pointing out that the child would be picked on his entire life for having such a name. Petunia - wanting what was best for her son - eventually agreed.

Three months later, Petunia's parents died in an "accident" that had been undoubtedly been a result of the civil war that was being waged between two different factions of wizards. Petunia was prepared to blame her sister for their parent's deaths - the damage to the sisters' relationship caused by her mother pitting the two girls against each-other (it would seem that when Petunia was out of earshot, their mother would start telling Lily how perfect Petunia was and start complaining that Lily wasn't like her) had been extensive - until Vernon had pointed out that the guy her sister was fighting against would have eventually killed them anyway, even if Lily hadn't gotten involved because they were "Muggles", since that was how that kind of person worked. The Evanses left Petunia their retirement home on Privet Drive in their will "Since she needed a proper home, not some rundown flat".

Vernon wondered about the sort of people who would retire to a place where all of the houses were identical, rather than a nice sunny beach somewhere. When they arrived at Privet drive, the locals sneered at Vernon's grease stained clothes, and constantly made biting comments about the fact that Petunia worked and left her baby at a daycare as well. Hey, it wasn't like everybody could drive a company car to a high paying executive position, and if he could, he wouldn't want to. He was doing what he loved, and making money while he did so. If he were stuck in an office, he would die of boredom.

By the time Harry arrived on their doorstep, the Dursleys' greatest desire wasn't to be normal, it was to tear the condescending smiles off the faces of their neighbors.

**AN: Minor edits made on 6-20-11.**


	2. Tripping Over Baskets

Vernon had been heading out the door shortly before sun-up to go to work when he tripped over the basket. The coffee he'd been drinking to wake himself up went flying across the lawn soaking the already damp newspaper that never landed on the porch, and the object within the basket wailed loudly, showing its displeasure at being fallen on. In his surprise, he moved backwards faster than he thought humanly possible. Afraid that he might have hurt the child, he raced upstairs to wake his wife who had gotten off her evening shift at the hospital a few hours before. She would be able to look the baby over and see if he needed to call an ambulance.

Petunia jerked awake at the words hurt kid, adrenaline started flooding her system in preparation for an emergency. Working in the pediatrics ward - while rewarding - was often harrowing. Children that had seemed to be stable enough to be removed from the ICU sometimes declined unexpectedly, as did children who had appeared to be completely stable minutes before. Racing down to where Vernon had left the basket - afraid that moving the child might hurt it further - Petunia got one hell of a shock. The baby - that seemed rather healthy despite being left out in near freezing weather with only a blanket for warmth and being fallen on by a rather large person - was her nephew Harry who Lily had sent pictures of in her last letter before she had gone into hiding because the madman she was fighting had decided to directly target her and her husband rather than just the resistance group they were members of. Inside the basket with the baby was a letter.

Unable to bring herself to open the letter, she handed it to Vernon while she dialed Emergency Services. Just because she couldn't see something wrong with Harry didn't mean that there wasn't, especially considering that unusual cut on his forehead that had already scabbed over. She was still exhausted from yesterday, and not at her best at the moment. If she somehow managed to miss someone apparating onto their property, then it was completely possible that she could miss something else.

When the police and the ambulance arrived, the residents of Privet Drive came out to watch the spectacle. Considering how low-class the residents of Number 4 were in their eyes, they were half expecting to see paramedics rushing a battered and bruised Petunia away. Instead, a basket was being loaded onto the ambulance. One brave soul got close enough to hear Vernon Dursley tell the constable that some "bastards decided to inform my wife that her sister was dead by dumping her son on our porch with a note". The residents of Number 12 swore that they had heard a motorcycle sometime around midnight. People who knew the Evanses spoke of what a pity it was that their daughters had fallen so low.

&!&!&

Vernon and Petunia took the day off so they could be at the hospital with their nephew. Fortunately, the boy hadn't been injured when Vernon had tripped over him, but the hospital had wanted to keep him for a few hours observation to make sure the unknown number of hours he'd been left outdoors in the cold hadn't adversely affected his health. The odd looking cut on his head - that according to the letter wasn't something that had been caused by being fallen on by his uncle - worried them a bit as well. Vernon sat reading the letter that had been left with the boy, growing angrier by the second, while Petunia wondered if she would be able to take care of two babies when one already took up almost all of the time she didn't spend working.

"Bastards." Vernon growled.

"What's wrong Vernon?" Petunia asked.

"While those bastards spent all day yesterday partying - I should know, since I saw them running around London like they didn't have a goddamn care in the world - and none of them took time out of their "busy" day to drop by and inform us that your sister was dead, and ask us if we are able to take the child in. Instead, they just go dumping the kid on our doorstep in the middle of the night with a note that practically orders us to keep him even if we can't afford him. To make matters worse, a bunch of their lot want to kill the boy and a bunch more of the lunatics want to make him a saint. Not only do they want us to put ourselves and our own son at risk by keeping the boy, but they want us to keep him ignorant of the "Wizarding World" until they drop by and whisk him away when he's eleven. A bunch of Lunatics are going to want to kill him and a bunch more will be worshiping him and the poor boy wouldn't even know why." Vernon replied, gripping the letter so tightly that it crumpled in his fist.

"And I wonder why I was ever jealous of my sister. You're right, they're a bunch of bastards. The question is are we going to be as big of bastards as them and put another family at risk while abandoning a member of our own family in the process?" Petunia said. "I'm not sure if we can take care of him, but I would be even worse than my mother if I didn't even try."

"It's a good thing we have the house free and clear. We probably wouldn't be able to take care of him properly, much less our own child if we didn't." Vernon said as he looked down at the small child that was fussing in the hospital crib.

&!&!&!&

Harry had no idea of what was going on, other than the fact that his mommy and daddy weren't there. He had been cold for a time, and then something large had gone sailing over his head. After that, there had been alot of noise and a bunch of strangers had surrounded him when he'd gone from a small noisy room to a larger noisy room with a strange beeping noise.

That night, his mommy and daddy weren't there, neither was Pa'oot, Mooey, or Ormai. A strange woman tried to rock him to sleep, and he didn't like it. He wanted his mommy.


	3. Vernon Muses Expenses, Petunia Gets Help

Vernon smiled as his two year old son and his nephew "helped" him fix the lawn mower. His and Petunia's incomes combined fortunately provided enough to properly care for the boys (clothes, furniture for Harry shortly after he arrived, diapers, food, toys, a few picture books, etc.). He'd been afraid that they wouldn't be able to with all of the other expenses such as maintaining two cars because he and Petunia kept such disparate hours, and maintaining the house to local standards so the neighbors would stop hounding them eating into their budget. Who knew growing flowers could be so bloody expensive? And, if he wasn't so certain that he'd get a bunch of angry letters, he would've torn out the blasted lawn and replaced it with a rock garden "Grass no higher than 3/4 of an inch" my ass.

They also had enough saved for a medical emergency that could put either him or Petunia out of work for a while, just in case, which was good. They probably wouldn't be able to save enough to send Ryan to a boarding school (one other than Smeltings) as they had hoped though, nor would there be any vacations to France and Italy, or somewhat extended vacations to the seaside as they had dreamed, but they would still be able to provide the boys with many things he and Petunia lacked for various reasons when they were growing up, and get by okay.

From what he had constantly heard from Petunia's mother every time he saw the woman, the Potters had been loaded. When he had written to the Wizards that had dumped Harry on their doorstep in hopes of getting some financial assistance so they could save for future expenses such as Ryan's education, and any other surprises that may come their way - like the daughter he and Petunia had sometimes talked about having - he had been informed on no uncertain terms that no assistance would be forthcoming because Harry's "Trust Account" was inaccessible until he was eleven, and no other provisions had been made.

In Rowling's universe amongst others, Vernon would react to this by making sure Harry didn't cost much more to keep than a hamster despite the fact that he had far more money than his counterpart due to an inheritance from his father and a rather nice salary as a Grunnings executive. In this one though, Vernon had long ago opened his eyes to how cruel the person raising you could be, and rather than being like his father in regards to his nephew as he had in many universes, he had decided to prove himself better than his father. Rather than seeing Harry as an unwelcome burden, he saw him as his responsibility. One thing this Vernon refused to do was shirk any of his responsibilities.

&!&!&

Petunia watched her boys out on the lawn. As a nurse in the Pediatrics ward of the local hospital, she had seen some of the worst a person could do to a child. Months ago - when her nephew had first arrived - there had been an incident that made her fear that she was turning into one of those horrible people who did such things. Intellectually, she knew that most of her problems with Lily had been the result of her mother pitting her against her sister, probably in the misguided belief that the competition between them would drive them to be better and go higher. It didn't stop her anger at her sister though, as that had become too deeply embedded to remove. Even worse, she had felt that anger transferring itself to Lily's son since Lily was gone.

One morning, about a week after Harry's arrival, she had snatched Harry's bottle away from him and for some inexplicable reason handed it to her own son Ryan, even though her boy hadn't needed it since he had a bottle of his own. As soon as she had realized what she'd done, she'd been horrified. How could she have taken food from a baby like that?

Every time she got an urge to do something hurtful to her nephew, she shut herself away afraid of what she might do. Remembering the Lily who had absolutely adored her, and had followed her worshiping the ground she had walked on sometimes helped calm her around the boy, but the truth was she needed help.

Coming to a decision she should have made long ago, she dialed the number of a nearby therapist and scheduled an appointment.

&!&!&!&

Harry smiled. The sun was bright, and it was warm. The green grass tickled his bare toes. He was happy, Ryan was happy, and Unca Vern was happy. He was helping Unca Vern fix the thing that made loud noises and made the grass shorter.

"Wrench." Unca Vern said as he held out his hand.

He picked something up from the toolbox and handed it to him. It was long and heavy, and it dragged on the ground as he brought it over.

"This is a hammer." Unca Vern said as he put the thing down.

"This is a wrench." Unca Vern said as he picked a long silver thing up.

He thought that the "hammer" and the "wrench" looked alike.

"Little tyke." Unca Vern said as he ruffled his hair and chuckled.

Harry smiled. Everything was good. The sun was bright, it was warm. The green grass tickled his toes. He was happy, Ryan was happy, and Unca Vern was happy.


	4. Stuck at Privet Effin' Drive

After taking as much of the neighborhood as they could handle and then some, the Dursleys decided to put their home on the market. Sure, the area boasted some of the best schools in the region and there was a very nice shopping district nearby - with a mall Coming Soon! - but the neighbors who looked down on Vernon for working in a garage and Petunia for working instead of staying home with the kids 24/7 made the place unbearable. The stares, whispers, and remarks had finally gotten to be too much, in fact it was beyond that. What was the point in having a house free and clear if you didn't like the neighborhood?

Vernon and Petunia stopped at Magnolia Crescent to somewhat reluctantly leave the boys in the care of an elderly woman named Mrs. Figg on the way to the realtor's office. While the woman charged much less than the daycare that Petunia usually left the children with, Mrs. Figg seemed to be several sandwiches short of a picnic and Petunia didn't think keeping at least ten cats could possibly be hygienic. It had been for those reasons that Petunia had been willing to go through the extra expense and longer commute. The daycare however had been closed that day due to a Chicken Pox epidemic that had miraculously missed the boys.

Vernon and Petunia had talked it over for a while, and decided to buy a home that was worth a bit less than the value of #4 Privet drive so they could put the difference into savings for Ryan's schooling. They knew that Harry's schooling was already taken care of, since that's what his trust account was ostensibly for. Both Petunia and her husband had reservations about sending Harry to Hogwarts though, but they knew that they would have to do it. If they refused to allow Harry to be enrolled in Hogwarts in favor of a more sensible school...Petunia heard of teams of "Obliviators" who went around erasing Muggles' memories. There was a strong possibility that they would never remember their objections amongst other things, such as their nephew.

The Dursley couple never made it into the realtor's office on that bright sunny day, as they had been waylaid at the front door by an old man who resembled Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, except for the fact that Gandalf would never be caught dead in such an atrocious purple and green outfit oddly reminded Vernon of some villain from his vague recollections of the Batman comics.

"It's a good thing I caught you. It seems that there were some things I forgot to tell you." The man that Petunia finally recognized as Lily's former Headmaster, and the man who had either dumped Harry on her doorstep, or had been responsible for Harry's abandonment on their doorstep.

"Like what?" Petunia asked, dreading the answer. With wizards, they'll show you a bright, shiny, better world, but it was all an illusion. As soon as you got caught in their trap, they would systematically destroy your life. It was just as well that Lily had married James, as that was basically the best she could have hoped for in either world, since she didn't have the magical pedigree necessary to get by in her adopted world, and didn't have any records of schooling past the age of eleven in the world in which she had been born.

"The fact that the Wardstones for the Blood Protection Wards can't be moved once they've been laid." Dumbledore said "If you move, the protection will vanish. If the protection vanishes, both Harry and your family will be at risk."

Vernon turned purple. It figured that the kind of person who thought it was a good idea to dump a defenseless baby on the doorstep in the middle of Autumn during a particularly fierce cold snap would forget to mention something that vitally important until the time when it was most inconvenient.

"YOU MEAN WE'RE STUCK AT PRIVET EFFIN' DRIVE?" Vernon bellowed. He was seriously considering hitting the man. Thanks to that idiot, they hadn't known that they were stuck in the most miserable neighborhood on the planet until, he'd come up and snatched the hope of leaving away from them, as they would not be willing to put their family at risk for any reason.

"It would seem so, yes." Dumbledore replied.

&!&!&

Vernon had a considerable temper, as many could attest. Learning that he couldn't move away from the neighborhood he had disliked since the beginning without putting his family at risk brought it near its boiling point. A gym membership was added to the family's expenses. There was no way in hell that he would take his anger out on his family as his father had done on many memorable occasions. There was an added benefit to Vernon's working his frustrations out at a gym, the gut he had begun to develop due to a steady diet of fast food and Take Out had been noticeably reduced.

Vernon didn't blame Harry for the situation. It wasn't his fault he'd been born to people reckless enough to attract the attention of a Homicidal Maniac with a bunch of followers who were currently on the loose. It wasn't his fault that Wizards were a bunch of backwards morons who didn't know how to lock their criminals up properly. Based on what he'd seen of the wizarding world so far, half of the bastards probably wouldn't be able to find their backsides if they searched for them with both hands and a map, and the rest were nuttier than a tree full of squirrels. He would make sure Harry wouldn't become one of those brainless lunatics. There was no point in trying to squash the magic out of the boy since it was clearly a genetic condition, but by god he was going to teach that child to think before he acted, or just to think.

&!&!&

Author's Note: I figure AU Vernon and Petunia's combined incomes were probably a little bit less than what Vernon would've made at Grunnings - with Petunia's making up the majority of the earnings - but they wouldn't have the inheritance from Vernon's father to fall back on. Amongst the larger expenses they would have had besides the boys would be for all of the things necessary to maintain the house and the yard to the neighborhood's minimum standards, two slightly older cars in constant need of maintenance (while Vernon could fix them himself, the parts cost money as did the gas, insurance, registration etc), and a habit of eating Fast Food and Take Out since Petunia didn't have much time to cook (eating out is more expensive than buying groceries)

As for the boys themselves, there was the fact that they spent most of the week in daycare rather than in Petunia's care (which could be pretty damn expensive). There was the standard clothes (for both boys), food, etc. And there was the fact that Vernon and Petunia's ideas of raising their children right included giving them many things they hadn't received as children for various reasons (Vernon's father viewed them as unnecessary expenses, and Petunia's parents hadn't been able to afford alot of the stuff). There was also a library of educational picture-books, videos and toys for the children. While the boys weren't as spoiled as Dudley of Rowling's universe had been, they still had alot.

It was a good thing they didn't have to take care of medical bills, because after Harry's short stay at the hospital Petunia realized there might be problems from being hit in the head with a curse, and they had taken Harry to a Neurologist to make sure he didn't have brain damage (fortunately he seemed to be normal for a child his age). It was revealed that he had a problem with his eyesight that resulted in a trip to the Optometrist and a pair of glasses for Harry.


	5. Sometimes Bad Things Happen

The boys were four when tragedy struck. Petunia had been coming home from a late shift when she had been struck by a drunk driver and nearly killed. She had been in a coma in the ICU when Vernon wrote to the wizards out of sheer desperation, as there had been very little the doctors could do but wait and hope. Because he didn't have one of those stupid owls he had to send his letter to the box Hogwarts kept for muggle post. Petunia had used the address as a bookmark in the days when she used to write to Lily at school, and had come across it when she had been cleaning out the attic last year.

It was nearly a week later - a week of waiting, hoping, praying, and little improvement - when the witch and the wizard arrived. The witch examined Petunia muttering and exclaiming "Oh dear!" every once in a while. The wizard whom Vernon had identified as that Snape fellow Petunia had invited to her wedding so he could see the happily married Lily with whom he had some sort of falling out stood silently in the corner observing. Vernon remembered how at the reception the then scrawny young man had gotten steadily drunker and drunker before he said something highly unpleasant to Lily and her husband and stormed off.

"You should have contacted us sooner." the witch said when she finished her examination. "If you had, we would have been able to heal the spinal injury. As it is there is nothing we can do for it anymore. Fortunately the other damage is reversible."

Vernon turned white, then purple. How could that woman say it like it was his fault his wife couldn't be fully healed. How could he have contacted them any sooner? The bastards didn't have any phones and he didn't have an owl or any idea as to how to get one of the blasted birds.

&!&!&!&

Severus Snape sat in the kitchen of the Dursley family home. He had spent some time discussing the potions regimen Petunia would undergo during her recovery. Due to the spinal injury that was beyond Magical medicine and currently beyond Muggle medicine to fix because the window of opportunity had closed for magical healing, Petunia would be paralyzed from the waist down. He wouldn't wish that on anybody, not his worst enemy (he'd wish far worse on his worst enemy), nor the rather bossy and spiteful woman he'd disliked since childhood.

As he sat nursing the cup of tea Vernon had given him, and Vernon sat across from him lost in his own little world the son of the leader of the gang of boys that had made his Hogwarts years hell ran into the kitchen to get a glass of water, using a footstool and one of the plastic cups that had been set beside the sink for that purpose. The slightly pudgy boy with black hair that stuck up in all directions was dressed in clothes that had been selected for their durability, rather than their fashionability. The glasses that nearly hid Lily's eyes had been selected to survive being worn by a rambunctious, possibly accident prone, and somewhat careless child rather than for their fashionablility as well. A taller boy who was a little pudgier with blond hair and dressed in similar clothes sans the glasses followed him in.

"Who are you?" Harry asked after walking over to the table.

"I'm Severus Snape. I've come to help your aunt get better." Snape found himself answering. He'd intended to correct the boy's manners, but the sight of Lily's eyes looking up at him with such open curiosity had stopped him.

"Really? Thank you!" Harry said as he climbed up onto Snape to give him a hug.

He sat there in shocked. He was being hugged by James Potter's son! He moved to pull the child off of him and give him a stern talking to, and found himself looking once again into Lily's eyes. This time they were looking up at him in the sort of reverential admiration that only a child could manage. He remained still and allowed the child to continue to hug him. He'd barely registered that the other boy was hugging him as well.

&!&!&!&

Vernon sat there wondering how his family would manage. With Petunia's injuries, she was currently unable to work and he didn't know if she would ever be able to work again. They were down to one income, and it was the lesser of the two at that. According to Snape, Harry's parents had set aside money for Harry's care before he arrived at Hogwarts (the tuition of which they had payed at Harry's birth to lock in the 1980 rates because there had been a proposed increase), but a bunch of so called Purebloods led by an associate of someone called Lucius Malfoy had moved to freeze those funds and place them in the trust account that was then made inaccessible until Harry returned to the Wizarding world rather than allow them to get into the hands of "Unscrupulous Muggles". Due to the fact that Muggles had almost no rights in the Wizarding courts, the Dursleys would be unable to appeal this decision.

Christmas would not be the somewhat lavish affair it had been in the years prior. They would have to cut back on the other holidays as well. They wouldn't be able to give the boys nearly as many presents or a day-trip to on their birthdays. They would likely have to go rooting through second hand shops when the boys outgrew their furniture as well. Despite their plans, it would appear that Ryan would be going to Stonewall when the time came. They would probably have to cut back in a million other little ways too. It was a good thing they didn't have a mortgage to take care of or they never would be able to manage.

Coming out of his musings, he saw his son and his nephew hugging that Snape fellow. Harry had probably been the instigator. He was such an open and affectionate child. Petunia had been rather cool towards him in the beginning, but his affectionate nature had eventually won her over. Vernon vowed to teach the boy to be less trusting in the future though, he didn't want Harry putting his trust in the wrong wizard and getting himself killed for it.


	6. Marge Stays Awhile

The boys were both present when Petunia woke from her coma, and they both tried to climb up onto her bed so they could hug her the instant they noticed that she was awake, but Vernon pulled them away before little hands or feet could unintentionally pull out or knock away an important I.V. line in a most painful manner. Vernon himself was crying. It was one of the few times during his adulthood that he had cried, and probably the first time he had cried out of joy rather than sorrow.

Even with the potions regimen speeding things along, it was a while before Petunia was let out of the hospital. During her stay, Vernon's sister Marge who had inherited the bulk of the Dursleys' small fortune after Vernon was removed from the will, as well as the house she was originally going to inherit had practically moved into the small guest room. While Marge wasn't the most pleasant of people and had a tendency to drink alot, she was still Vernon's sister and she cared for her brother greatly.

Marge - who was admittedly a bit more canny with money than Vernon was - had used her inheritance to expand her budding Bulldog breeding business into a reputable kennel that bred and trained several of the more popular breeds of dog including -after securing a contract - police dogs. Several of Britain's wealthiest had bought dogs from Marge over recent years. Her giving the less than perfect but still healthy specimens to charity as a tax write-off had actually made her popular amongst certain groups and the children who had received the slightly imperfect puppies. The ones that weren't healthy enough to survive were humanely euthanized because if a breeder of her standing was caught drowning them, her reputation would be ruined. The kennel was doing well enough that she had been able to temporarily leave it in the hands of two full-time employees.

Marge knew that Vernon hated the idea of receiving handouts, and wanted to succeed on his own so she didn't try giving him money. She did try to help around the house despite the fact that she wasn't very domestic. Her task was made easier by the fact that Vernon and Petunia had started teaching the boys to clean up after themselves at a very early age. The boys could make their own beds (to a degree) and put all of their toys where they belonged after they were finished with them. If both boys worked together, they could do simple chores like sweep the kitchen. Not being the best of cooks, Marge continued the Dursley family tradition of ordering take-out and throwing some salad mix together so they had some vegetables to go with their meal.

&!&!&!&!

Vernon spent the time he wasn't working filling out forms. While he held people who were "On the Dole" in disdain, he would need money from the government to make the house wheelchair accessible and to deal with the home care Petunia would need after she left the hospital. While he'd been embarrassed to ask one of his comprehensive school friends - a guy named John Reese - who had gotten a job with Social Services about the forms, John had been understanding and had offered to help him fill them out.

John had helped him file for custody of his nephew. It had been fortunate that Lily had insisted on giving birth at a Muggle hospital because she had felt vulnerable at St. Mungos where she had spotted someone who had been known to have Death Eater leanings. If Harry hadn't had any records in the Muggle world, things would have been a great deal more difficult.

&!&!&!&

Harry wasn't sure what to think of his new Aunt. She was loud and smelled funny sometimes. He liked Aunt Petunia better. Aunt Petunia was sick. She had been asleep for a very long time, but she woke up. Severus Snape was going to help her get better. Uncle Vernon had said that Severus Snape couldn't fix everything with his magic potions, and that Aunt Petunia won't be able to walk. She would have to stay in a chair with wheels on it like the ones at the hospital. He couldn't wait for Aunt Petunia to get back from the hospital.


	7. Time Passes

It had been nearly a year since the accident, and they were barely managing. With Petunia home all of the time since she was unable to work, the food expenses had gone down a bit as there was someone there to cook. The childcare expenses had gone down a great deal as well since Petunia was able to watch the boys as well. But, they had far less money since the earner of the larger of the two incomes was now unable to work. Petunia's disability payments helped a bit, but they mostly went towards installing and maintaining the lift to get her up and down the stairs. The damn thing broke just about every time Harry had an accidental magical outburst in the house - which was far more frequently since Petunia's condition had been rather distressing to the boy - for some strange reason. Snape had theorized that it had something to do with whatever it was about Hogwarts that instantly killed every muggle device that wasn't purely mechanical, but on a much smaller scale. It explained why they had to get a t.v. every year before they finally gave up this year - before now he'd figured that it was because they had all been second hand - and why the fridge and the blender were constantly on the fritz.

In order to keep his wife from going stir crazy, he had brought her books on any and every subject he could think of from the used bookstore near the garage. It was these books that led to Petunia's choice of second career. The law books that he had found incredibly dense and boring apparently hadn't been much denser than Petunia's old schoolbooks and had been somewhat fascinating to her.

Soon, the boys would be heading to school and Petunia would be back at University, this time pursuing a legal degree. He had happily filled out the loan applications because he knew that it would make his wife happy to be doing something useful that was outside of the house. Money would quite likely be much tighter for a while, but it would be worth it if only because Petunia was once again smiling that smile he had fallen in love with the first time he saw it.

Attending classes wouldn't be as difficult as they had thought, because Mrs. Figg had agreed to watch the boys after school free of charge.

Snape still occasionally dropped by to visit, checking on Petunia's condition and sharing stories about Lily with her. It was odd how different their views on Lily had been after her death. To Snape, she had become some sort of untouchable saint, and to Petunia, her flaws had been greatly magnified. He indicated that he would be unable to continue his visits soon though, as some of his former associates had started becoming suspicious of his absences and had been starting to track his movements.

Marge would often visit as well when her busy schedule permitted. She would often end up irritating Petunia, but she was well intentioned. She strongly favored Ryan "because he was a Dursley", but she did make some effort not to leave Harry out. Out of the family, it seemed only she and Harry liked the dog Ripper that she often brought with her. Ryan had been rather intimidated by the creature and refused to participate when Harry had taught the dog how to play fetch.

&!&!&!&

Harry was sad when Mister Snape came and told him that it would be the last time he would see him for a very long time. Aunt Petunia had been fixed as much as magic could make her, so he couldn't make any more excuses to see them. He'd liked Mister Snape and hoped that the really long time would pass quickly.

Uncle Vernon said that he would see Mister Snape again when he went to magic school when he was eleven because Mister Snape taught Potions. Uncle Vernon had told him all about magic and how while it was totally awesome, it didn't solve every problem and it was bad if you used it wrong. Uncle Vernon would read stories to him about people who used their magic to do bad things and came to a terrible end. Uncle Vernon said that there were alot of bad people in the wizarding world who had used their magic to hurt people and they would hurt him if they ever got the chance. Uncle Vernon also said magic could be good if you used it right, and read him stories of how the people who had used their magic to help people and do good things lived happily ever after.

When he grew up, he was going to use his magic to do good things so he and his family could live happily ever after like the people in those stories.


	8. McGonagall

Time passed as it always does. One day Vernon and a tearful Petunia were sending a very small Ryan and his cousin Harry off to their first day of school, and practically the next, they were bringing the boys home for their first summer before Ryan headed to Stonewall, and Harry was taken away by the wizards and sent to Hogwarts.

Over the passing years that had included any number of parent-teacher meetings because little Ryan had gotten into a fight with one of the local bullies and Harry had backed him up, or because something odd happened aroud Harry, Petunia finished her law degree, and was hired by a small firm in London.

The family's fortunes had picked up because of this, but there was still Petunia's student loans to pay off, as well as the loan Vernon had taken out when he had bought the garage after his boss had decided to retire.

While Petunia had dreamed of sending Ryan to a good boarding school, so he could have a chance at doing better and climbing higher than she had, the reality was that it was not going to happen. The Dursleys didn't have the funds to do so, and Ryan didn't have the brains to get into one on a scholarship. When the summer break ended, Ryan would be attending Stonewall Comprehensive.

All too soon, the day that the adult Dursleys were dreading came. There, on the doormat, amongst the rest of the mail was a parchment envelope that Petunia had immediately recognized, having seen seven of them before. One for each year that Lily had been in school. They would get through this like they had gotten through every other hardship that had come their way and come out stronger, Harry included. Nobody kept a Dursley or an Evans down. Not for long anyway.

A couple of days after Vernon and Petunia sent the only reply they could send with heavy hearts, a woman who Petunia recognized as the woman who had officially introduced Lily to the "Magical World" showed up on their doorstep. She did her best to be polite to the woman whose name was Minerva McGonagall, but the woman made it damned hard. It had all started with that disapproving sniff the woman made when she was led inside. Apparently their home - despite it being clean, and acceptably decorated - didn't meet her idea of what the dwelling of the "Savior of the Wizarding World" should look like.

It went all downhill from there, and devolved into an argument when she had Vernon take Ryan elsewhere where he wouldn't be enchanted by a world he could never be a part of rather than join them on the trip to Diagon Alley in which the "Whole family should be involved". As far as she was concerned, Ryan wouldn't be as hurt if he didn't know exactly what it was he was missing, and "Professor" McGonagall could stuff her advice where the sun didn't shine. She herself had been crushed when she hadn't been allowed to attend Hogwarts, and knew exactly what she was doing.

The only reason she had decided to go on the trip to Diagon Alley now was because she knew what was needed and had an idea of where it could be purchased, and would make sure that they didn't stay overlong and increase the risk to Harry who would be vulnerable to any assassination attempts there.

As they prepared to head out, there was another argument over the fact that she had wanted McGonagall to disguise Harry before they left. As far as she was concerned however, it would be either that, or a full security team since Harry was such a high profile target.

&!&!&!&

Harry felt like hiding or being sick as he watched his aunt argue with the woman who was going to be one of his teachers. He understood where his aunt was coming from, and that the woman was being rather unreasonable considering, but the woman was going to be one of his teachers at Hogwarts, and she would have the power to make his life hell over the coming years, especially if she was his head of house.

He had wanted Professor Snape to be the one to take him to Diagon alley, but that was apparently not to be. He vaguely remembered Uncle Vernon saying that he'd been some sort of spy and that he'd been forced to keep his old associates in case there was another uprising. Being seen willingly spending time with the boy who had supposedly defeated the leader of the most recent terrorist organization to run through the wizarding world would be tantamount to openly declaring his allegiance, and could possibly get the man killed.

So, he was stuck with this rather unpleasant McGonagall woman who had disapproved of everything from his home to his appearance instead. This was not going to be a fun trip.

&!&!&!&

Minerva McGonagall scowled as she held up her wand for the Knight Bus. Albus had said that Harry wouldn't have an easy life with his relatives, but this...

She had watched the Dursleys on the day before Albus had dropped Harry off on their doorstep. Vernon had left at around sunrise the way a hard-working muggle husband was supposed to, laughing off the temper tantrum his ill mannered brat was throwing. Several hours later, Petunia dressed in the uniform of a muggle healer and dropped her son off at something called a daycare. Vernon had returned with the boy after sunset and and performed several tasks his wife was supposed to do, including tend to the baby and prepare dinner. Petunia practically crawled into the house hours later, ate the dinner her husband had made and crawled into bed after dumping the dishes in the sink.

When Albus had arrived to drop Harry off hours later, he hadn't listened to her objections.

She had known that Petunia would be negligent in her care of the boy, and it was obvious nearly ten years later. The house could barely be considered clean, and the furniture should have been replaced ages ago. Harry himself had come inside wearing clothes that could practically be considered rags. There was no excuse for it since the Dursleys weren't poor like the Weasleys, considering the neighborhood they lived in.

Petunia had been entirely unreasonable, and she had only given in to the woman's demands in the end, in order to get the trip to Diagon Alley done and over with before the sun set. She didn't want to spend any more time with the woman than was necessary, and she pitied Harry for having to.


	9. Diagon Alley

Petunia winced as her wheelchair rattled over the cobbles of Diagon alley and jostled her about. She hadn't gotten one of the fancy electric chairs that moved by themselves, since she knew that it would be little more than a fancy giant paperweight with Harry in the house. She had gotten adept at moving herself about in it over the years. The McGonagall woman had thoughtfully charmed the thing so she didn't have to wheel herself up and down the alley, or have Harry push her, but the ride was far from smooth.

Diagon Alley was much the way she remembered it from the few trips she'd made with Lily before she'd weaseled her way out of being dragged here by her parents when they went shopping for Perfect Lily's school supplies. The place was still just as incredibly tacky as it had been two decades earlier, and the wizards were just as oddly dressed. Now that she looked more closely, she noted that styles hadn't changed all that much if at all in the nearly two decades between her last trip to the alley and now.

Beside her, Harry seemed to be going into sensory overload as he tried to take everything in. The relatively good mood he'd been in that morning before McGonagall had dampened it had returned in full force and brought a great deal of childish excitement and delight with it.

Business at the bank was swiftly concluded. Harry and the professor had gone down to the vaults while she not so patiently waited in the lobby fielding questions about her wheelchair from some blond brat who seemed to be from what she assumed was the Wizarding upper-class. The look on the boy's face when he was informed that it had been magic that had failed to heal her properly had been absolutely priceless as had been the look on the boy's face when he saw an extremely freaky looking wizard with scars everywhere and and artificial eye and leg stump over to one of the tellers.

After they left the bank, Petunia made sure they visited the wand shop first as wands seemed to be the most important wizarding tool. She settled herself in the corner as the elderly proprietor of the shop emerged to make his attempt at unnerving his customers. When the man asked which was Harry's wand arm, the boy looked a bit confused before replying that he was Left-handed.

She winced at McGonagall's reaction to this statement. It reminded her of the looks on the faces of her school teachers when they had caught her writing with the "wrong hand" back when she was a child. Left-handedness was a trait that had been passed down the Evans line. It had seemingly skipped Perfect Lily, but had emerged in her son Harry. She had been tempted to make the boy use his right hand when he was younger, but she'd heard that it could mess a child up if they were forced to use their off hand all the time. Since the teachers hadn't complained, she had decided to let it be.

McGonagall's reaction to Harry being compatible to the wand that was "brother" to You-Know-Who's wand made her want to hit the woman. It was a freaking stick with a bird feather stuck inside, the fact that it "chose" her nephew didn't make him evil, it just meant that the magic stick just liked him for whatever reason magic sticks chose to like people. For all she knew, You-Know-Who's wand could have been the evil twin or something.

She was in a poor mood for the rest of the shopping trip after that, which in turn dampened Harry's mood, ruining what should have been a special day and apparently a rite of passage of sorts for the boy. She fully blamed McGonagall who without consulting her at all had purchased a pet for the boy as an early birthday present at the behest of the school groundskeeper. Eventually, they made their way home with a large trunk and a snowy owl that was sure to cause comment in the neighborhood and possibly bring the RSPCA to their doorstep since they wouldn't be able to hide the creature, because Harry would have to frequently let the bird outside to hunt.

"Oh, before I forget." the McGonagall woman said as they made their way to the door with their purchases. "The platform's been moved back to 9 3/4."

"Moved back?" she asked.

"Now that I think of it, Lily had already graduated by the time it moved, so you wouldn't have known. There was an attack in 1979 in which He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself participated. All of the incoming muggleborns for that year as well as several others were killed. The evidence team was still finding unpleasant surprises on and around the platform a decade later. They finally managed to get everything last November. The platform was deemed safe and re-opened this year." McGonagall replied.

Petunia scowled at this. While on the one hand, a return to normal would be a way of thumbing one's nose at the bastard with the French name, the thought of using the platform on which so many people had been murdered seemed slightly macabre to her. There was also the fact that if they were still finding things after a decade, it was possible that someone missed something and there was at least one more unpleasant surprise laying in wait. Not only that, but some of the people who were dropping off their children had undoubtedly been there that day to see other relatives off, and would probably be unpleasantly reminded of the slaughter they witnessed whether or not they had known or been related to any of the victims. Personally, she thought that the wizards should have made a clean break of it, continued using the platform they'd been using for the last decade, and turned Platform 9 3/4 into some sort of war memorial.

&!&!&!&

Harry smiled as he opened one of his new wizarding history books. Today hadn't been the best of days, but there had been one or two bright spots. Amongst these had been the bookstore, the brief meeting with Professor Snape at the Apothecary, and the new owl that his aunt wasn't too happy about. He liked animals, and Ryan was also happy to see a new pet in the house to go with their tortoise.

He knew exactly why Aunt Petunia wasn't too fond of animals, and frankly he understood. Dogs were out because Aunt Petunia had had a bad experience with one when she was young, and was still afraid of the creatures, making each one of Ripper's visits an exercise in bravery for her. Cats were out since Uncle Vernon was mildly allergic, and would start sneezing every time they came home from Mrs. Figg's. How his Uncle had managed when he and Ryan had been going there practically every day, he didn't know. Aunt Petunia didn't like birds, since as a rule the creatures tended to be rather vicious and would peck and bite, or at least the ones her parents had bought when she was young had when she'd tried to pet them. Most reptiles and small rodents were out due to the mysterious ick factor that most girls seemed to share even when they grew up. The tortoise had been allowed however, because the tortoise was nice, the tortoise was quiet, and the tortoise didn't take up too much space. The owl had been allowed in the end because it would be gone most of the year.

As Harry reached the account of the "Boy-Who-Lived", the smile rapidly slid off his face.


	10. Healers and Discussions

Narcissa sighed as she finally let her son go, and shook her head as the boy raced back to the floo and fled to Malfoy Manor. She should have known that Draco hadn't been handling his grandfather's death as well as he appeared to be. The boy was going to be a Slytherin after all.

Carefully straightening herself, she pretended to ignore the stares and the mild panic her son had caused as she made the way to the floo herself.

The whole incident had started when she had decided to get a certain task dealt with before the rush. Less than fifteen minutes ago, today had been a rather ordinary day, in a rather normal if somewhat boring week. Then, she had brought Draco to St. Mungo's for his vaccinations...

Draco's howl of "Nooooooooo!" when he realized where the portkey had landed him had startled her and caught everyone's attention. All efforts to correct her son's behavior had been made in vain. As they departed the portkey arrival station, and made their way across the waiting room and towards the office of the healer with whom Lucius had scheduled an appointment, Draco's panic increased. When they had reached the door that separated the waiting room from the healers' offices, Draco made another desperate attempt at freedom while wailing "I'm not going in there! Grandpa went in there and never came back!"

It was at that point that she let Draco go, and the boy raced across the waiting room as if the very hounds of Hell pursued him, leaving a number of crying children in his wake.

She would of course be scheduling a home appointment for later in the week, but for now, she would be having a talk with Lucius about his method of helping Draco deal with Abraxas's death, or rather lack thereof. The boy clearly was not just fine, even if he seemed to be running around and playing like he usually did before his grandfather had died three months ago.

&!&!&!&

Vernon sighed as he pulled into the garage he now owned, well technically the bank owned until he could get the loan paid off. Harry was fast asleep in the passenger's seat. It wasn't all that surprising, since he and Harry had left the house before dawn, and the boy wasn't exactly used to being up at such an hour. Harry had come with him because he had wanted to conduct business at that wizarding bank since that dreadful McGonagall woman whom Petunia had nothing but negative words for had hurried Harry along and hadn't allowed him to ask any questions or conduct any business other than withdrawing the money necessary for his school supplies.

Last night's conversation before Harry asked him to bring him to London with him had been interesting to say the least. Initially, Harry had been rather upset over the fact that his mother who had died saving him had barely been mentioned in the history text Harry read where his story had been rather prominently featured. The writers of the book had made it seem as if it had been entirely his and his "pureblood" father's actions that had ended the life of that Voldemort fellow.

Further discussion led to Harry's revealing that there had been an entire shelf of "Harry Potter" adventure stories in the children's section of Flourish and Blotts. Harry had bought a couple out of curiosity, and had been even more disgusted. The word insipid didn't even begin to describe the books that Harry had flipped through, unable to bring himself to read past the first chapter or two.

All in all, Harry's mood on the day he'd been introduced to the wizarding world was a decidedly black one, and had remained so for most of the rest of the week.

It was while they were discussing the cost of the wizarding children's books which had been slightly more expensive than his school textbooks that Harry made his request to go back to the bank. Apparently, Harry didn't know how much money he had. He knew how many knuts went into a sickle, and how many sickles to a galleon, but he didn't know exactly how that translated into muggle money, and he didn't know exactly how much wizarding money he had besides a great big pile of it in his trust vault since his care payments and other things had been sitting there adding up for years.

Harry had shown him some of the wizarding money, and his eyes had naturally widened at the sight of the galleons as most people's would when seeing a number of rather large gold coins. Harry expressed serious doubt that the coins were actually gold all the way through, and when he asked why, Harry replied that Petunia had vaguely recalled the conversion rate being something like three pounds to the galleon, and there would be no way in hell that the goblins would be stupid enough to hand over gold to someone who could then melt it down and sell it in the muggle world at a profit if half the things he'd heard about them were true.

Harry pretty much stayed out of the way all morning, limiting himself to handing over tools as the mechanics needed them, as his tools were all at home, and most of the tools in the shop were meant for hands much larger than Harry's, making handling them rather awkward. The boy looked rather bored as the morning progressed, though he perked up near lunchtime when they headed out to Charing Cross road.

His first impression of Diagon Alley was of absolute chaos. There seemed to be little to no logic in how the shops were placed. They had an optician next to some guy who sold boots, and a children's toystore next to an "Adult bookstore" whose stock he seriously doubted was limited to books. The bank, despite being manned by beings that obviously weren't human, was an island of order in all of that chaos, and he was quite happy to sit in the small waiting area off the main lobby while Harry conducted his business, in order to center himself before he went out into that circus.

&!&!&!&

Lucius mentally berated himself for not paying as much attention to his son as he should have. It had been Narcissa who had noticed the problem. He honestly hadn't realized that Draco had been attached to his father at all, considering the fact that the boy had seen the man three times a year at the most and hadn't seemed too interested in the visits.

Abraxas had spent the last several years enjoying his retirement after he'd taken over the family business interests, and had done his best to blow through the fortune he'd been hard pressed to maintain with all of the bribing he had to do in order to keep himself out of prison and the Malfoy reputation intact amongst other things. Contrary to the story that had been given to Draco and the public, Abraxas Malfoy had actually died from some strange muggle disease that he'd caught from a prostitute. It had been because of that amongst other things such as the fact that he had totally hated his father that he thought that the less that was said about the man, the better.

Now, he had to discuss the man he'd despised with someone who'd apparently actually loved him.

He needed a drink.


	11. The Hogwarts Express

Harry sat down in his compartment on the Hogwarts Express. The last month had been somewhat eventful, what with finding a good boarding school that would enroll Ryan at so late a date, which included visits to several campuses. But finally, Ryan had been situated, and he himself was underway to his own school, Hogwarts.

When he had gone to the bank at the beginning of August, he learned that due to the way that his father had set up his trust fund, virtually all of the money that was in the Potter Family's main vault would end up in his trust vault by the time he'd turned seventeen. Several of his father's investments hadn't gone as well as he'd hoped they would when he'd made them. The war had mostly been to blame for this, because his father had tended to invest in businesses run by "Light sided" families which were the most recent Dark Lord's favorite targets.

Aside from the money that was slowly being drained into his trust vault every month, the Potter Family vault which he couldn't access until he was of age contained a number of items his family had collected which had been gathering dust for generations.

Aside from money and the items contained in the Potter Vault, he owned two properties that were in dire need of maintenance. The first property had been the site of the Potter Family's ancestral home which had been raized to the ground during the attack that had killed his paternal grandparents and the family House Elves. The second property was the Godric's Hollow home in which his parents had been killed, which had been turned into a memorial of some sort.

After he'd tallied up the funds in his trust vault which had been piling up unspent since he was a baby, he'd come to the realization that he had enough money to both pay for his tuition and school supplies, and put Ryan through seven years of boarding school. When he had told his aunt who had lamented the fact that her son would have to go to Stonewall High since the family could not yet afford better of his idea, she had enthusiastically displayed her gratitude, and cried on him for over an hour.

When he'd gotten ahold of the people who were selling the Harry Potter storybooks and other Harry Potter items and using his name to endorse products in the middle of August, he learned that someone who had claimed to be his guardian had sent them a letter telling them to put his share of the profits in the fund that assisted students who were unable to pay for their Hogwarts tuition or supplies. He didn't have the heart to pursue the matter and get that money back or to direct them to start sending his share of the profits to him. There was a good chance that more than one witch or wizard had become what they were born to be because of that money, and that more would do so in the future. He was upset that nobody had asked him about it first. If they had, he would have told them yes. It wasn't like he needed the money.

A couple days ago, Ryan had been sent off to his new school with a tearful goodbye. Today had been his turn. After a rather emotional farewell on Platform 10, he had headed to Platform 9 and 3/4 as his aunt had instructed, mindful of any traps the wizards might have missed. He then made his way aboard the brightly colored train, and made his way to an empty compartment where he had stowed his belongings and seated himself.

&!&!&!&!&

Draco Malfoy whimpered slightly as his eyes landed on the particularly graphic illustration in the book he'd removed from his family's library. He choked back the sick feeling in his stomach as the person in the picture writhed in pain. He needed to know this however.

His mother had told him that Blacks and Malfoys weren't ruled by their fears. They faced what they feared head-on and destroyed it.

He would do the same for his fear of Healers. His extremely rational fear of Healers was rooted in the fact that when they made a mistake bad things happened. Very bad things. His grandfather's death being one of them. He couldn't kill every Healer on the planet because if he tried, he'd end up in Azkaban. That meant that he'd had to find another way.

He'd found a way that he thought was suitably Slytherin. He would become a far better Healer than those hacks who left people stuck in chairs with wheels on them for the rest of their lives and left people stuck with freaky spinning eyes and wooden legs. When people came to him, they wouldn't be leaving in a box like his grandfather had left St. Mungo's.

As he turned the page of the book that had belonged to the last Malfoy to become a Healer, the ring that had belonged to his grandfather slid down his finger, threatening to fall off yet again. His father had given him the ring that had been resistant to resizing charms after a rather awkward discussion about his grandfather's death.

He hadn't known his grandfather all that well, and hadn't liked the man all that much either, but his father had seemed to be happy to give him the ring. He knew that if he lost his father he'd be very sad and upset, so he had some idea of how his father was feeling now. If giving him the ring that he personally thought was rather tacky made his father feel better, then he had little choice but to accept it. He hoped his father felt better about his grandfather's death soon, because he didn't care all that much for the ring and didn't really want to be seen wearing such an ugly piece of jewelry. As soon as he was reasonably certain that he was able to without hurting his father's feelings, he'd be stashing the ring in a box in the back of a closet somewhere, and forgetting about it.

Eventually, while Crabbe and Goyle who had been left in his charge played with some string and doodled on a piece of parchment, and he read a chapter on the treatment of botched self-transfigurations, the train started to move, and his journey to his new school was underway.


	12. Finally At Hogwarts

Harry smiled as he exited the train on the way to join the rest of the first years who had been called to gather near a massive man in a giant fur coat that looked like it was patched with fur from several other animals. When his journey to Hogwarts had started, he had been alone, but by the time the train had arrived at its destination, his compartment was full. Ron Weasley had found him after he'd deliberately gone looking for "The-Boy-Who-Lived", and dragged Justin Finch-Fletchley and Dean Thomas along with him. Justin and Dean had been wandering the train when Ron had run into them while he'd been searching for him. Being muggleborn, they hadn't known anyone and had been nervous about entering compartments where groups of people who looked like friends had been congregated.

He had found Ron's being a total fanboy somewhat annoying, but since he'd toned it down a bit after asking about the scar, he'd tolerated the redhead's presence. This turned out to be beneficial since the Weasley boy proved to be reasonably nice, as well as the owner of a worn deck of Exploding Snap cards which he used to teach him Justin and Dean how to play. During their third game, a bushy haired girl who was leading a shy looking boy who was slightly pudgy like he used to be when he was younger until he'd been signed up for a local children's football team had stopped by the compartment. The boy had lost his toad, and the somewhat bossy bushy-haired girl had been helping him find it. While he had no idea where the toad was, he'd told the two of them that they could come back when they found it.

Unfortunately, the toad hunters didn't find their objective, but near the end of the journey, a blond boy and his two sidekicks came in looking for him. Apparently, the boy who appeared to be a bookworm based on the size of the tome he'd been carrying with him had wanted to both meet him and offload a pair of nuisances onto him. The massive and somewhat dull boys who were named Crabbe and Goyle had apparently started making too much noise, preventing the Draco boy who'd gotten into some sort of argument with Ron before he left from focusing on his book.

Both Crabbe and Goyle proved to be proficient at playing Exploding Snap as he'd learned when they had enfolded the two boys into their next game though Ron had been somewhat leery of doing so. There was some sort of friction between Ron Weasley's family and that of the blond bookworm which had brushed off on the boy's friends who'd been left behind in his compartment. Fortunately for the continuing lack of conflict in the compartment, Ron had allowed the two of them to play, and play they did until it was time to leave the train.

After leaving the train, he, Ron, Dean, Justin, Crabbe, and Goyle followed the bearded giant in the fur coat to the boats which were at the edge of the lake across which the school that was housed in the most magnificent castle he'd ever seen was located. He, Dean, Justin, and Crabbe all piled into one of the boats. Ron and Goyle joined the bushy haired girl and the pudgy boy with the toad which turned out to be named Trevor that had somehow smuggled itself off the train and onto a boat without being noticed until they'd reached Hogwarts into another.

After arriving at a jetty that was located beneath the castle, the group of First Years had been handed off to the unpleasant McGonagall woman who led them all to an anteroom which was located just off the Great Hall of the castle where they were to be sorted into their houses. Based on the way even the pure-blooded children were speculating over the manner in which it would happen, it was apparently tradition to keep children in the dark about the sorting method until it happened. Considering the speculation over whether or not it would be painful, it was also a tradition for older siblings to try to convince their younger and more gullible siblings that being Sorted was a terrifying ordeal. Whether or not that was true had yet to be seen however.

After McGonagall had left to get everything ready, a group of ghosts had wandered through startling a number of the soon-to-be students. Based on the way they were arguing, they hadn't been focusing on where they were going, and had likely not meant to startle the first years who were nervously waiting to be sorted. Upon realizing that the room that was likely empty for 364 days of the year was occupied, the ghosts had introduced themselves as the House Ghosts. The overweight one in the monk's robes had seemed to be the friendliest of the bunch. That was probably to be expected though, since monks and the like were devoted to helping their communities as a means of serving God.

After the ghosts departed, resuming their argument over the "Peeves" fellow as they did so, McGonagall returned and ordered them to line up and follow her into the Great Hall which was occupied by hundreds of staring students who were seated divided amongst four tables over each of which a banner depicting the coat of arms of one of the Hogwarts houses was hung. There was a fifth table that ran perpendicular to the other four at the back of the hall whose ceiling was charmed to match the outside sky, and in front of that table was a small three-legged stool on which a patched and frayed wizard's hat was resting.

As he wondered what the purpose of the hat was, a rip near the brim opened and the hat began to sing about the houses and the characteristics that were prized by each house. Apparently, Gryffindor was for the brave, Ravenclaw the bright, Slytherin the sly, and Hufflepuff for everyone else. After the song had been sung, McGonagall had started calling students up in alphabetical order. Crabbe ended up going into Slytherin, Justin went to Hufflepuff, Goyle joined Crabbe in Slytherin, the bushy haired girl whose name was Hermione went to Gryffindor, the pudgy boy who was named Neville went to Gryffindor, and the blond bookworm who'd dumped his friends in his compartment also went to Gryffindor much to his and everyone else's surprise.

As he waited for his turn, he wondered how everyone seemed to know the Malfoy boy, and why they had all been surprised that the hat had sent him to Gryffindor. From the way the blond bookworm had reacted to his being placed in Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw which was the house for the smart, being in Gryffindor was apparently a bad thing. Looking at the Gryffindor table, he could see that they seemed to be a rowdy and unruly bunch. One would think that the McGonagall woman would keep her house under better control considering how stern she acted when she wasn't looking down her nose at his relatives because they didn't do what she wanted them to when she wanted it.

Since he'd been so lost and thought, his name being called had caught him by surprise. By the time he realized that it had been called, the McGonagall woman was calling it a second time. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, he made his way towards the stool on which the hat had been set, trying not to flinch as he felt the collective attention of the entirety of the Great Hall turn to him. After what seemed like an eternity, he'd finally reached the stool, and McGonagall set the hat on his head the instant he was seated.

_Not Gryffindor, huh? Hmmm...It's been a while since I put one of you there... If you're anything like your last ancestor to be sorted into that house, you will make quite a name for yourself in __**Hufflepuff.**_

As soon as the name of his new house was called, McGonagall pulled the hat off of his head and pointed him towards his house table as if he were too dim to find it on his own despite the fact that he'd been paying attention. As he made his way from the stool, the entire Great Hall was silent, as if they were too stunned by his sorting to react. Apparently, they had expected him to go elsewhere like they had the bookworm. Eventually, when he was half-way to his new table, the Hufflepuffs started to clap and cheer. This apparently broke the spell that seemed to have been cast over the room, as the rest of the students slowly followed suit.

When he reached his new table he sat down next to Justin whom he'd already known from the train. As the next name on the list was called, some movement at the staff table caught his eye. Mr. Snape was there seated towards one of the ends next to a man with a turban, and he was smiling smugly. Based on the surreptitious movement beneath the table as well as the put out expressions on the faces of the other teachers and the old man on the thronelike chair, money was changing hands and Mr. Snape had just made a killing. Happy to see Mr. Snape for the first time in years, he waved to the man who nodded in return.

Eventually, after Dean Thomas and Ron Weasley went into Gryffindor, which was a gross mis-sorting in his opinion, the Sorting ended and the feast started. After he'd eaten his fill, and spoken with the Abbot girl on his right, and the Bones girl directly across from him as well as Justin, he turned his attention to the rest of the hall. Everyone he'd met on the train seemed reasonably happy except for the somewhat snobbish bookworm. The boy wasn't eating, and from the looks of things, the other Gryffindors were already picking on him.

Seeing a pair of boys who could only be two of Ron's older brothers turn the bookworm's dinner into something unpleasant that tried to crawl off of his plate cemented his opinion. He was most definitely glad he wasn't in Gryffindor.

**Edited 7-28-13**


	13. The First Night

After the Sorting feast, all of the prefects led the students of their respective houses. Harry found the Hufflepuff common room to be rather cozy. There were numerous areas where groups of friends could congregate to study or play. Along one wall there was a set of shelves that contained a number of games in various states of repair. There was a ring of of squashy yellow armchairs surrounding the fire, and a number of toasting forks rested against the brick of the fireplace. Branching off in two directions from the common room were the dormitories, boys to the left and girls to the right.

After the prefects gave a list of house rules, the students separated and made their way to their dormitories. For the foreseeable future, Harry would be sharing a dorm with Justin, a boy named Ernie Macmillan, a boy named Zacharias Smith, and a boy named Karl Limpley. Justin came from a rather wealthy family, and it showed. Limpley was a quiet boy from a small town called Leadworth. Zacharias Smith was a bit overbearing, and when they traded stories about their families, he made a point of informing them of his family connection to their house's founder. Macmillan was nice enough, and a friend of Smith's from before Hogwarts.

Being rather tired, the boys soon stopped talking after providing a few details about themselves and started drifting off one by one. As Harry fell asleep, he thought that he could very easily come to like his house and Hogwarts as a whole if it was even half as nice as Hufflepuff.

Up in the Gryffindor First Year's dorm, things weren't nearly as peaceful or quiet as they were downstairs. Of course they never were, but this time it was worse than normal. Two of the boys were about ready to murder a third and making good progress on their first attempt, one was trying to stay out of it, and another was hiding and hoping that nobody would notice him.

As far as Draco Malfoy was concerned, his placement in Gryffindor was the worst thing that could have happened to him, and there was a good reason why his mother's family had stayed away despite the number of times the hat had tried to place a Black in Gryffindor where it thought they belonged. As far as Ronald Weasley was concerned, Malfoy was an interloper who was taking a place that should rightfully belong to Harry Potter. Dean Thomas had no real opinion about Malfoy's sorting either way, but he rapidly found that he didn't like the blond brat with the pointed chin the instant after he'd called him a mudblood.

Ron and Dean had rounded on the Malfoy boy the instant after he'd called them a blood traitor and a mudblood to round out the insults he'd had for all of his dormmates, and said that he didn't want to share a dorm with any of them. Not being particularly proficient in magic, both Weasley and Thomas resorted to using their fists, and after throwing one of the blankets from one of the beds on the blond, they started wailing on him.

This was just the icing on the cake as far as Draco Malfoy was concerned. He had not wanted to be a Gryffindor in the first place, and in the hours since he'd become one he'd been forced to suffer through a great deal of pain and misery. Of course a good deal of it was of his making, but those who had decided to make him suffer had not needed to react in as extreme a manner as they had.

In the Slytherin dorms, two boys were looking at each-other.

"Crabbe," one of the boys asked "What are we going to do without Draco around?"

"I don't know." the other replied, not knowing of a time in his life when he'd been outside his family home without the Malfoy boy whose father was friends with his father.

"Me neither." the first said.

The both of them were supposed to look after Malfoy whom they'd known since they were in diapers, and he was supposed to look after them. None of them could do that however with them in Slytherin like their families had been for ages and Draco in Gryffindor like that renegade cousin of his who'd come to a very bad end.

As they went to sleep, both of them found themselves worrying about Draco, hoping that he wouldn't come to a bad end like his cousin. Draco may have been a stuck up snotty brat, but he was their stuck up snotty brat and they didn't want anything to happen to him.

In the teacher's breakroom, things were in a bit of an uproar. Every once in a while there was a surprise sorting, but there were rarely two in the same year, and very seldom were they from such prominent families as Potter or Malfoy. Sprout was looking like the cat that ate the canary, and McGonagall was looking decidedly unhappy over the fact that another brat from a Dark family had been sorted into her house where it didn't belong. None of the teachers knew what the fallout of that night's sorting would be, but they knew it would be spectacular, and they'd better brace themselves for it.

Preferably with several strong drinks.


End file.
